Close Encounters of Another Kind
by RowenaR
Summary: Television is something that keeps fascinating Helena. Written for my Holiday Fic Request Meme on LJ.


**Author:** RowenaR

**Rating:** K+

**Category:** gen

**Disclaimer:** Warehouse 13 isn't mine. And I should really catch up with the rest of the Season. Leverage isn't mine, either because if it were, _some_ things... would never have happened.

**Summary: **Television is something that keeps fascinating Helena.

**A/N: **Holiday Fic Request Meme. That was fun to write! No, seriously, once I had the idea for the actual setting, it was fun but honestly? I was very tempted to make it Wormhole Extreme: Universe... What? I _told_ you my mind is hardwired to Stargate. And I'm not ashamed of it! Anyway. Hope you have as much fun with it as I had :D

Anyway, as always: Not a native speaker, so please excuse any weird grammatical constructions, run-ons and typos. Feedback will earn you a cookie, flames will roast my marshmellows.

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><p><strong>Close Encounters of Another Kind<strong>

"_And everybody's looking out  
>for close encounters of another kind<br>and it won't help me if I shout  
>but I'm getting pretty close this time."<em>

_Clouseau, "Close Encounters"_

Television is something that keeps fascinating her. She dreamed up something like it and wrote about it in her day but she wasn't around anymore when the Farnsworth made its first appearance at the Warehouse. Ever since she encountered the device – and the much bigger television sets people even outside the Warehouse seem to use – she keeps trying to sneak off with one to see what _exactly_ it can do. And yes, there are times when not even Myka's promise of a new artifact puzzle can drag her away from the flickering screen of the TV set in her room.

So it's probably no surprise that in the middle of a snag'em, bag 'em and tag 'em she suddenly stops in front of an electronics shop to look at the biggest screen she ever saw, even though she's supposed to meet Myka in a few minutes. It's something Agent Lattimer likes to call "a big honking flat screen" and it really is _big_. There's something running… it's dark and the camera is a little unsteady. She squints and brings her face a little closer to the screen.

Ah, it looks as if they are in some sort of corridor… very dark and claustrophobic. Mh… "Oh, that show's crap."

What? Oh. She looks up to see a young woman standing next to her. Her blond hair is swept up in a ponytail and she's wearing a black turtleneck sweater and black trousers. The young woman also sounded very convinced of the legitimacy of her statement. She raises her eyebrows. "What makes you say that?"

The blonde rolls her eyes. "Because Hardison keeps watching it while everyone is bored to death by it. Couple of soldiers and civilians on a space ship they can't control in some galaxy far away. What's so exciting about _that_?"

She has no idea who Hardison is but on the screen, a young woman with something that looks like one of those weapons Agent Lattimer gave her during what he called a crash course in modern Marine weaponry is leading a group of other people through the corridors and to be honest, she wants to know what they intend to find. She turns back to the blonde. "Plenty, I'd say."

There's a very unladylike snort. "Totally not. There's that Scottish guy with the weird accent and the weirder ideas and that stupid guy who's just a cheap copy of Hardison. Really, Hardison can do all that hacking and geeking thing so much better," It would be very convenient, she thinks, if she knew who in the Lord's name the woman is actually talking about, "the only one who's cool is that black guy. I guess that's because he's kinda like Eliot…"

Because she can get to ask the blonde who or what she's talking about, she hears footsteps approaching fast and then there's a man running towards them. He stops in front of them and immediately addresses the blonde, sounding very gruff and a tad out of breath, "Dammit, Parker. Are you talking to strangers again? In the middle of a fucking _job_?" The blonde rolls her eyes and wants to say something but the man is faster. And now he addresses _her_. "I'm sorry. Dunno why she keeps doing that. Really sorry if she bothered you in some way."

Well. Somehow… that amuses her. Or, alright, mostly the way the blonde – Parker? – keeps rolling her eyes and making faces at the man who seems to be her… keeper? Partner? "Oh no, don't worry. We just had a very… interesting discussion on this serial," she gestures towards the TV screen where there seems to bit of a… shootout happening, "Your… partner didn't bother me in the slightest."

He looks at the blonde and she just grins, as if to say "You heard the lady." In the end, he just growls and then says, "Yeah, uh… still sorry. Come on Parker, we gotta run or they'll catch us after all."

Actually, she hopes that Parker will resist and stay because everything about those two suggests an interesting story but her partner – obviously the aforementioned Eliot, since Parker calls out that name in an indignant huff when he tries to drag her by her arm – starts jogging off again and after a short, "You have to excuse Eliot. He's always like that with strangers. I think he's shy," the blonde takes off after him.

For a moment, she feels a little nonplussed and doesn't even react at first when she hears Myka say, "What the hell was _that_ about?" from behind her.

She shakes her head slightly and gestures towards the screen where there seems to be a kind of discussion going on… is that the bridge of the ship that this Parker women mentioned? "It was… nothing. Just a little discussion on… this."

Myka looks at the screen, too. "Stargate: Universe? Pete loves that show. If you want me to… I can ask him if he'd give you a little introduction."

Mh. She's still a little wary of Agent Lattimer, just as wary as he is of her. But she knows that she doesn't need only Myka's trust, if she wants to keep working with the Warehouse crew. She needs his, too, maybe even more so. She smiles and nods, "That would be lovely."

At that, Myka smiles, too and they resume their mission. However, she can't get the young blond woman and her partner out of her head… and she's resolved to find out what they'd been doing in the shopping mall. Even though it was just a short encounter, the writer in her sniffed a good story and she's resolved to get it all. The serial story _and_ the couple's story. It's going to be an interesting week, she's sure of that.


End file.
